Roderic Mòbil

Feeling Upside Down: Witchcraft and Exclusion in the Twilight of Early Modern Spain

Títol: Feeling Upside Down: Witchcraft and Exclusion in the Twilight of Early Modern Spain

Autor/a: Tausiet, María

Resum: In mid-1812, in the village of Tosos (Zaragoza), more than thirty-two of the inhabitants claimed to be possessed. Most of the population accepted the supernatural explanation of maleficence and cast the blame on one woman, Joaquina Martínez, who was labelled a witch and sorceress and whose life was threatened on several occasions thereafter, until she was definitively expelled from the village.
Had this happened in the 16th or 17th century, Joaquina would have been tried and awarded a harsh sentence.Two centuries on from the end of the “witch-hunt”, however, as if in a “looking-glass world”, those brought to trial were her persecutors.The episcopal trial of the so-called “possessed of Tosos” provides some fascinating insights when it comes to the study of emotions in a crucial period of historical change: the Spanish War of Independence, which marked the beginning of the end of Spain’s Ancien Régime. What becomes very clear from this particular case is the parallel existence of two emotional codes.
According to the code upheld by most of the villagers (the language of demonic possession), the emotional disturbances were caused by demons invoked by Joaquina. On the other hand, according to the code upheld by the representatives of the Church (the language of reason and the Enlightenment), most of the afflicted were either faking their possession or, in some cases, they were ill or insane. In this new, enlightened age, however, witchcraft was no longer something to be unquestioningly accepted.